Feed Your Fella’s Inner Carnivore … Barbeque Style!

Is your man a carnivorous barbeque-loving fool? We thought so!

Winter Survival For The Carnivore-Adjacent

Winter is in full swing, and with it comes sweaters and boots, football and pumpkin spice lattes that trickle into our daily lives. But for those of us not planning to hibernate through winter, it can be a tough time to stay trim, especially living and eating with a barbeque obsessed man. After all, football is the season of wings, ribs, brisket and finger licking, and with the spread of barbeque restaurants from the south to major cities across the US, it seems like that yearly “winter weight gain” may be inescapable. But wait …

Never fear! The big city barbeque boom actually brings hope to those of us living carnivore-adjacent.

What these new barbeque restaurants really represent is options. Next time your man wants to go watch the game over a pile of bones, don’t settle for some mediocre chain place with its greasy wedge of iceberg “salad” and dry cornbread. Instead, recommend a place that takes care with a carefully curated menu with options that both of you can enjoy. This is a great way of getting out with your guy, taking an interest in his passions, and eating some truly AMAZING summer-time food in the dead of winter!

Find a place with these succulent looking mouthfuls on the menu and get ready to receive the girlfriend of the year award … you’re welcome!

Here’s our simple, two step formula for making the barbeque boom work for you:

1. Follow the smoke. If you’re going to sell your guy on a barbeque place without plastic bibs and vinyl booths, you’re going to need to do better than “baby, they have pumpkin spiced whatever.” Instead, find a restaurant that has a real smoker in-house.  Both of you will be able to taste the difference between hickory or mesquite smoked, fall off the bone tender barbeque and that mass-produced nonsense from your local sports bar.

2. Scout the menu in advance. Most places have a copy of their menu on their website, or you can just pick up the phone and call. Before getting distracted by the whiskey cocktails, investigate a few specific sections of the menu.  We’re talking about the appetizers, salads and a little section that will probably bear a title like “entrees” or “southern classics.”  There you should find options not made of sauce-slathered or dry-rubbed pig or cow. You’ll know what you’re looking for when you see it – salads with house-made dressings and heirloom greens, grilled or pan-seared fish or chicken, appetizers beyond mozzarella sticks and potato skins.

Be the first to check out a new restaurant in your neighborhood!  With the big city barbeque boom quickly spreading from New York and Los Angeles, chances are there’s some place amazing just around the corner.

Even Las Vegas, former home of the 99-cent shrimp cocktail, has joined the movement with the opening of Pot Liquor Contemporary American Smokehouse at Town Square, a locals-favorite shopping center.  If Pot Liquor’s handmade smoker could talk, he would answer to the name “Big Bank Hank” and tell you that he brings his smoky goodness to Sin City by way of Ole Hickory Pitts in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A quick glance at the menu reveals a pan seared stripe bass in tomato and fennel broth with roasted shallots and citrus butter, a fried green tomato salad, baked blue crab, chicken under a brick, and the titular collard greens in pot liquor.

Stop in this football season and I’ll be the girl at the bar sipping on a “Southern Belle” cocktail and munching delicious (gluten-free, vegan) boiled peanut hummus, right next to the guy tearing into a plate of crispy fried chicken wings.